Even if you are having an unusually bad day. Not Old Testament bad, just Brave New World bad.
If you’re overworked, or under funded, or your home needs a major repair, or your car has been ruined by hail and buying a replacement is not an option, or your seasonal privet, honeysuckle allergies are kicking you in the head, making you muddle-headed, dizzy. You know, that kind of run-of-the-mill bad day.
Here’s the thing. The very tonic. The elixir. Somehow the simple act of seeing a prothonotary warbler can lift your foundation, make you feel less fouled, less put upon, less to-hell-in-a-hand-basket dire.
Just one spectacular golden-yellow passerine. The same color as a dandelion but more joyous.
If you need a lift, look for prothonotary warblers downstream from the River Boardwalk at Ijams. We found one on Sunday afternoon and the rest of the day had a golden glow.
How it works is a mystery to me, probably something to do with endorphins, i.e. endogenous opioid peptides that function as neurotransmitters, a chemical surge in the brain that produces a mental morphine-like rush. A natural high.
But that sounds so cerebral.
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4 comments:
Excellent photo! I saw a black-fronted blue warbler in the deep woods yesterday, with a small caterpillar in its bill. Only the second one I've seen.
Or if you can't find your own Prothonotary Warbler, you can just read about one. That's a pick-me-up, too.
Great post on the joys of seeing such a bird when life is getting you down! And your photo of the warbler is so clear and stunning...I feel like I can reach out and touch his yellow feathers! Seeing the photo brightned my day!
Awesome picture, wonderful words. This world, this life does get me down, sometimes I so just want to go home, nature takes me there, thanks for the reminder!
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